Real estate pundits on Thursday said the sector is set to witness an impressive growth in the coming years as India has a shortfall of 24.7 million housing units.

'Affordability has gone up and the tendency to have a second-home among the youth are contributing to the spurt in demand,' HDFC's Chief Financial Officer Keyur Shah said at a Ficci-organised banking summit here.

Stating that the real estate sector would require a mammoth USD 40 billion dollar investment to bridge the gap and another USD 65 billion to create the supporting infrastructure, he, however, said lot of equity money is coming into Indian real estate sector sensing huge demand.

Real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank's chairman Pranay Vakil said the real estate sector was growing at such a rapid pace that it might lead to shortage of workers at the ground level.

He said the growth of the industry would be more widespread and volumes would remain buoyant.

'With the growth of the knowledge sector, the office sector will grow. The housing sector will continue to witness growth as long as mortgage finance rates remain stable,' Vakil added.